Rivals
by ArtemisJPotter
Summary: My take on the first episode of Season 4 of H2O: Just Add Water. Emma has returned to Cleo and Rikki, but drama stirs when Emma becomes jealous of Bella (and vice versa). How will Cleo and Rikki deal with this? More information inside.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't usually write author's notes, but I decided to now just to have a sort of introduction. Hopefully it won't be too long ;)**

**A/N: Okay, so I was pretty upset on how Season 3 of H2O ended-it wasn't big enough and Emma didn't return! :( So a little while after I watched it I spent some time looking for fanfictions for it (and landed on some really good ones :D), but I also had a desire to write my own. It's taken a while, but here it is.**

**This book is the "first episode" of Season 4, so to speak. The girls have just graduated and soon discover that Emma has returned! But Emma and Bella become jealous of one another-of course we've got to add some drama-and so that's what this book is about (hence the title, "Rivals"). I may write sequels to it (as in having the rest of the "episodes" to "Season 4"), but honestly, I don't have many ideas for it at the moment. I mean I *did* have some that I had saved on my phone, but for some reason they never updated when I updated my phone, so they're all gone! :O But if I get any ideas (and if anyone else gives me some) then I will gladly try to incorporate them :)**

**One other thing that should be noted is that this story was written when I was kind of free writing and had creative juices flowing at the moment-right now I am kind of in a gutter as far as creative ideas go and haven't finished the story! So I may not update it very soon, but I will try to if I can. I promise. I know how frustrating it is when a good story is not updated, but now that I've recently become a writer (a little while ago, but it was probably around this year) I understand how it is to have the dreaded writer's block!**

**I'm also in the midst of editing this story, so if anyone ever reads this story (please do! :P) I will gladly consider any criticism given and adjust my story to it. But don't be mean-remember, there is a fine line between criticism and ruddiness :)**

**Okay, this turned out to be WAY longer than I meant it to be! So, without further ado, skip to the next page and began unfolding my fan fiction! :)**

**(Disclaimer: I obviously don't own H2O: Just Add Water and don't claim to. As one funny Fanficion writer wrote one, "Please don't sue. I'm poor."**


	2. Surprise

Rikki and Bella lied lazily in the Moon Pool, looking towards the way they had entered in the cave. It had been their quiet solitude for quite some time now-since the Moon Pool had been off in the far distant island of Mako, no one really went-but as mermaids they were able to swim there pretty fast. So it was always nice to go to the cave once in awhile for a little unwinding.

But this time Rikki was feelling a little impatient. Their other friend, Cleo, hadn't been there!

Cleo had told them that she was on her way to meet them, but they still hadn't seen her. Where was she? Rikki just couldn't understand what was holding her up. Bella, on the other hand, seemed calmer, but that was probably just because she wasn't as impatient as Rikki.

Rikki was about convinced that Cleo wasn't' going to make it when she suddenly heard a person shout, "Hey!" Turning around, Bella and Rikki saw their brunette-haired friend swim towards the pool. "Sorry I'm late," she told them. "I was up all night yesterday."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Rikki injected. "You think you can stay up as late as you want now that you've graduated?" The girls had just finished their senior year of high school a few months ago.

Cleo laughed-that was typical Rikki humor. "No," she began. "I just received some great news last night. I was so excited that I couldn't go back to sleep for a long time."

"Really?" Bella suddenly asked, her curiosity rising. "What happened?"

Cleo smiled. "Well," she began, "you remember how I applied to the local university here?"

Rikki nodded. "Yeah?"

Cleo's smile grew wide. She looked as if she was bursting with excitement when she shouted, "I got accepted!"

"What?" Rikki exclaimed, her smile almost as wide as Cleo's.

"That's great!" Bella agreed.

Cleo nodded, her eyes filled with glee. "Classes start next week," she went on, sounding as if she could barely contain her excitement. "I'm so excited I can hardly wait!" She let out a satisfied sigh before asking, "So, what are you guys' plans, now that we've graduated?"

"I'm hoping my singing career will kick off," Bella answered proudly. "I've got a pretty steady gig at the cafe, and I'm hoping the money from that will hold me over enough to get myself an agent." She instinctively turned to Rikki. "What about you?"

"Well, I plan to stay as the manager of the cafe," Rikki said casually. Bella and Cleo looked surprised. Rikki's ex-boyfriend, Zane, owned the cafe that Rikki was referring to, and, even thought it had been months since they had broken up, they still weren't on speaking terms.

Before anyone could say something about Rikki's comment, Rikki added, "I can handle Zane, guys. I really like the job, and I need the money."

Cleo nodded, deciding not to say anything. Both she and Bella knew that Rikki wasn't completely over Zane, but they didn't want to start an argument. Rikki still retained much of the fire that she had back in high school.

"Well, it looks like we all have our lives planned out," Cleo said, deciding to change the subject, "Here's hoping to a great year!"

Bella was about to say something when footsteps suddenly echoed the cave. The girls flicked their heads around anxiously in the direction where the footsteps were coming from, not knowing what to do. No one usually came over to the Moon Pool except them. If even saw them now, in their mermaid forms...

The girls soon saw who the person was and relaxed. It was just Cleo's boyfriend, Lewis. He had a mysterious look on his face as he smiled at the girls. "I thought I'd find you here," he greeted.

"Lewis?" Cleo asked, sounding confused. "What are you doing here?" They usually made plans together now that they were back in a relationship, but Lewis hadn't told Cleo that he was planning on coming to the Moon Pool as well.

"I have some big news," Lewis announced. "And I think it'll surprise you."

"Okay, spill it," Rikki said flatly, causing both Cleo and Bella to laugh. Leave it to Rikki to be straightforward.

"No, it's not the kind of news you can just tell," Lewis explained, shaking his head. "I'll explain it on the beach." He turned back around to the way he came, leaving the girls alone in the pool once more.

Cleo, Bella, and Rikki, looked at one another with the same, perplexed expression. What could Lewis possibly be talking about?

Shrugging, Cleo dove back in the water and started swimming back to shore. She was quickly followed by Rikki and Bella. It didn't take them much longer than a minute or so to reach the beach.

After the girls dried off near a rock, where they were hidden from the rest of the world, their fins were transformed back into human legs. They stepped out from their hiding space and spotted the beach for their scientist friend. It didn't take the girls long to find Lewis.

Lewis smirked at them. "Follow me," he ordered, suddenly jogging off into another area at the beach. Shrugging, the girls walked after him.

"Where are we going?" Cleo asked, feeling a bit impatient. But she quickly saw what the surprise was and gasped. Walking towards the girls was a teenager who looked to be around their age.. She had straight blond hair that was a little lighter than Bella's, pretty blue eyes, and light skin that had been tanned from being out in the sun. Upon spotting Cleo and Rikki, the girl immediately smiled.

"Emma!"


	3. Tension

Cleo and Rikki charged towards Emma, nearly knocking her towards the ground as the two friends tried to embrace her. Bella felt as if her feet had been glued to the floor as she watched the trio embrace. She immediately felt as if Emma had created a wall separating Bella from her two best friends.

"I didn't know you were coming home now!" Rikki exclaimed, finally letting go of the hug she and Rikki had given. Emma had been traveling with her family last year, so she hadn't been able to spend the girls' last year in high school with them.

"Well, I got here last night," Emma explained, her voice full of excitement. "I told Lewis about it, but I forced him to keep the surprise." At this she glanced at the budding scientist, who smiled back. "I figured that Lewis would have been good at keeping the secret, given that he told be about his short departure."

Cleo smiled and eventually broke out of their hug. "Oh, I missed you so much!" she exclaimed. "There is SO much we have to tell you!"

"I have so much to tell YOU!" Emma exclaimed.

"How did you do school during the trip?" Rikki asked.

"I homeschooled," Emma replied.

"Where did you travel?" Cleo wondered excitedly.

"All sorts of places. Which reminds me, I have to show you this shirt I got from Japan..."

Bella just stared at the two girls and Emma, not being able to stand being ignored anymore. Clearing her throat, she said loudly, "Hi."

Emma turned around to face Bella and gave her a perplexed. "Hi," she said a bit warily. She glanced at the others while saying, in the politest way that she could, "I don't think we've met before."

Cleo stood in between Bella and Emma to explain. "Uh, Bella, this is Emma," she turning to Bella. Then she turned to Emma and said, "Emma, this is Bella."

Rikki smiled. "She's a mermaid, too," she said, giving Emma a look.

"I didn't know there was another mermaid," Emma said, her smile tight. She couldn't help feeling like this "Bella" person was her replacement.

"Neither did I," Bella said. She forced a smile. "You never told me about Emma before."

"And you never told me about Bella," Emma added, giving Cleo and Rikki a look with a small hint of anger. "I find that odd, given how close you appear to be with her-"

"I guess we just got so caught up that we forgot to introduce you to each other," Cleo said quickly, sensing the tension that was rising. She gave Rikki and Lewis a look, almost as if to ensure that it just wasn't her that was getting the vibe. Rikki and Lewis gave Cleo an "I know" look and turned back to Bella and Emma.

"Why don't we go to the cafe?" Rikki suggested, hoping that the walk may calm the two newly-introduced friends down. Lewis immediately nodded at Rikki's suggestion. "That sounds great," he agreed. "I could use a good smoothie."

"And we have a lot of catching up to do," Cleo added, glancing nervously between Emma and Bella. "Come on, let's go."

Emma and Bella gave each other a look before following the trio from the beach.

The four mermaids and Lewis reached the cafe a few minutes later. Emma was the only one of the group who looked slightly disoriented. The cafe looked different than she had remembered. Everything was designed differently, from the walls to the floor to even the selection of food. Wilfred wasn't there, Emma noted, and she hadn't recognized any of the staff members that she had met last year.

But the biggest shocker of them all was the name of the cafe: _Rikki's_. Emma assumed that it had not been a coincidence and wondered why the cafe's name had been changed to her best friend's instead.

The friends eventually found an empty booth and headed towards it. Cleo and Rikki were sitting on one end, and Lewis was at the other. Emma and Bella glanced at each other for a moment before choosing to sit on the opposite sides-Bella sat near the girls, while Emma sat near Lewis. The two blondes caught each other's gaze for a flicker of a moment before glancing into another direction.

This didn't go unnoticed by Cleo, Rikki, and Lewis, however, and Cleo immediately decided to do something to ease up the atmosphere. "So," she began, turning to Emma, "is the cafe's still the same as you remember, Emma?"

"Not really," Emma admitted, trying to keep her voice light and casual. "It's called Rikki's for one. Last time I remembered it it was called the JuiceNet cafe."

"This place was called the JuiceNet cafe?" she asked, feeling at a disadvantage that Emma remembered something she had with the girls that Bella had never experienced.

"It was before Zane bought it," Cleo answered, and then she launched into a conversation regarding all that had gone on while Emma was gone. Emma tried to smile and appear happy as she followed along, but on the inside she didn't feel good. She felt so left out when she heard about all the adventures they had with, all the ones she had missed. The adventures that they had experienced with the other girl-_Bella-_-instead.

After Cleo was done, Emma looked shocked. "I can't believe all that happened," she remarked, trying to sound calm again.

"I know, right?" Cleo sighed "I wish we could have experienced it with you."

Emma's smile was tense. "Well, we've had plenty of adventures before then," she pointed out. "Remember when we had to deal with Charlotte, and Doctor Denman?"

"Who?" Bella asked, feeling left out once again.

"Horrible people that you thankfully will never meet," Rikki said grimly, and she began to explain about the adventures she had had with Emma. Bella felt herself tuning out at Rikki's words. Whatever Rikki was talking about, she knew that it had to deal with _Emma _instead of her.

_What if they just needed me to replace her?_ Bella suddenly wondered. The thought made her feel uneasier than ever. Did Cleo and Rikki really like her, or were they just using another mermaid until they waited for Emma's return.

Bella suddenly shook her head, feeling uncomfortable. She needed to clear her thoughts. "I'd love to hear the rest of the story," Bella told Rikki, interrupting her in the midst of her explanation, "but I have to go. I promised my parents I would be home before dinner." Giving Emma a quick glance, Bella scooted out of the booth and left. She knew that what she had just said was a lie, but she didn't care. She couldn't stand to be in the room anymore.

Cleo and Rikki exchanged the same worried look. So far, things weren't turning out so good.

"Too bad she had to leave," Cleo remarked, trying to start up another conversation to possibly break the tension. She turned to Emma. "I really wanted you to get to know more about our other best friend."

"Well, she had to leave," Emma said in a slightly irritated tone. Why did the girls bother with Bella, anyway? Why did they care so much about her? It wasn't like there was anything marvelous about Bella, anyway. She was just an average girl who happened to be a mermaid. Okay, maybe 'average girl' and 'mermaid' didn't go together in the same sentence, but she was no different than Emma in that regard. And Emma had been the girls' friend before this Bella person showed up.

_Why are you so mad, anyway?_ a voice in Emma's head whispered. _Are you jealous?_

Emma quickly erased the thought from her head. _I'm not jealous, _she told herself sternly. That wasn't the kind of person Emma Gilbert was. She didn't get jealous. Emma was a smart, mature person, and she knew that the girls recognized who she was. Now that Emma stopped to think about it, thinking that they liked Bella better than her was just silly.

"Zane changed a lot around in this place," Emma commented, trying to change the subject yet again.

"He did," Cleo admit. Her eyes suddenly turned wide as a memory hit her. "Oh, do you remember the first time we got here?" Cleo asked, turning to Rikki. "Remember when Nate had been in the cafe's band?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Rikki said with a roll of her eyes. "I'd rather hear a dead wale sing than Nate."

"But luckily we found Bella to fill in," Cleo said happily, and then she turned to Emma. "Did I tell you that she's an _incredible_ singer?"

_Once again, they're talking about Bella! _"Yeah, I think you mentioned it," Emma answered brusquely, not knowing if that was entirely true. She didn't want to talk about Bella, not now or ever. She was starting to have enough of hearing about this new girl who had shown up and suddenly taken her spot in the trio.

Cleo suddenly realized that she may have said the wrong thing. Instead of changing the subject, however, she decided to be a little more straightforward with Emma. "Are you okay?" Cleo asked. "You seem kind of on edge the past hour or so."

Emma shook her head. "I'm just tired," she lied. "I've was on the airplane for several hours, and I'm starting to feel kind of drossy." She stifled a yawn. "Can we talk tomorrow? I'm sorry; I'm just feeling really tired, and all I want to do is rest now.

"Okay," Cleo said, sounding a bit disappointed-Emma was never a good liar. "Well, it was nice talking to you after not seeing you for so long!"

Emma managed a small laugh and waved goodbye to the girls and Lewis, then headed outside of the cafe. Once she was gone, Cleo turned her attention to both Rikki and Lewis. She looked worried.

"Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot of tension between Emma and Rikki?" Cleo finally asked. "They've rarely spoken to each other since Emma got here, and when they did they didn't really seem like they were enjoying each other's company."

"You'd have to be blind to not see that," Rikki said frankly. "I don't get it! I've never seen Bella get so mad before, and this is coming from someone who gets mad quite often. And Emma," Rikki added, "I know she can be sort of...standoffish at times-but she's never been this rude before." Rikki shook her head. "What's up?"

"I think I may know." Lewis, who had been quite for awhile, suddenly spoke up. "I think they might be jealous of one another."

"Really?" Cleo thought on this for a moment. "I guess I could see that coming from Emma, a little bit, but I've rarely seen Bella jealous."

"Except for that time she thought Sophie was Will's girlfriend," Rikki pointed out."

"True." Cleo sighed. "Well, I don't want them fighting all the time. What are we going to do?"

Lewis thought on this for a moment. "Maybe we should just let it drop for now," he suggested. "They've just met each other, after all. If we give them time to cool off, maybe things will be better the next time they're in a room together.

Rikki nodded, but on the inside she felt unsure of Lewis' suggestion. She had felt the anger between Emma and Bella-it was almost like they were spitting fireballs at each other. Rikki was starting to wonder if it was even a good idea to have them in the same room together if they ever met up again.

Cleo's thoughts were similar to Rikki's, but she was trying to be more optimistic about the situation. _Maybe they're just shocked about meeting each other_, she told herself. _After all, Rikki and I didn't tell them about the other. Maybe Lewis is right; maybe things we'll just cool over tomorrow._


End file.
